Of angry birds and cowardly mice.. Posted on 13th May 2011, 3:33pm by admin

Guess who’s back!

Yours truly has taken a lovely 2 month siesta! Now, my writer’s pen has been itching to be put to use, but with Holy Week and Good Friday in April, I had to apply those restraints and tie down my hands which were desperately trying to pen something acerbic down – in light of the Holy month, I certainly didn’t want to be smote by divine lightning!

Ah yes, where did I left off? I think since the last time, the dressing decorum of church-goers seemed to have improved, no? Guess the social media has really become influential in many aspects – matters ranging from religion, to politics, to social issues.. Its no wonder that so many people are plugged into the internet today!

And speaking of internet, people are no longer restricted to desk computers and laptops. With 3G and WIFI, loads of people are accessing the net on their telephones – with facebook and twitter leading the way, no less.

It was precisely during one of those weekend services in March, that this writer was sitting behind a well-dressed young lady. Granted that the sermon could have been slightly more engaging, this lady subsequently proceeded to whip out her sleek iPhone4 ensconced safely in her pink hello-kitty cover, and started opening her Mousehunt page on facebook to sound her horn!

For the uninitiated, Mousehunt is this game on facebook that lets you well, hunt for mice, by clicking a button every 15 minutes. The more mice you catch, the higher you progress up the digital hierarchy ladder, and the more electronic gold you get. The graphics are cute, and the game ever simple, its no wonder that many people are hooked on it. STILL, that is surely not something that you would do in the middle of a church service, would you?

And it ain’t just the mice that’s getting everyone all up and about. Their amphibious cousin, the frog, seems to have garnered quite a following too. Entitled “Cut the thread”, this game requires the player to cut several threads holding a lollipop, such that the candy is fed to this kitschy kermit-looking frog. Oooo.. its soo… cute!!! Even this writer’s bought over by the lovable cretin!!

You’ve seen the land mice and the sea frogs – the global conquests continues up in the skies, as the squadron of angry birds take on the evil green pigs who have stolen their eggs! Angry and angsty, these birds will spare no feathers or toe nails in their bid to destroy the pigs hiding in their straw, wooden and brick (how appropriate) houses! It has spawned such a following that sales of those vengeful birds and their videos have gone viral!

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m no technophobe, and certainly not a digital dinosaur. Just because I don’t own an iPhone – which almost everyone in the streets, including possibly the kitchen sink, flaunts one – doesn’t mean I’m about to go the way of the Dodo bird.

Moi thinks that with great power, comes great responsibility.

Ah, touche. Yes, my own hair stood on its end as I wrote that ever-so-cheesy line from Spidey’s debut film flick. What was I thinking?

But true to its words, technology has opened up new possibilities and and boundaries. It creates jobs, simplifies jobs, entertains people – why even the 3 year old kid I saw in a clinic was busy playing with his mother’s iPhone (and that was after his own iPad’s battery lifespan expired). But there is a time and place for everything. We have to stress to our children (and the people around us) the correct principles: that we have to respect our religion, and our God; that there is a time and place to use the phone – and during a church service definitely does NOT qualify here.

For at the end of the day, it is not just about doing the right things. It is all about character, and showing the world that we as Catholics, respect our religion and our God; and that we are able to conduct ourselves to a high standard of bearing on a daily basis.

So if you ever catch anyone in church using the phone for non-emergency purposes, you know what to do. No no, don’t take a photo of them with your own phone and upload onto stomp aka the inconsiderate commuters who sleep with those eye-shades. Tell them to either stop the noise pollution, or stop flaunting their internet capabilities on their iPad/phone.

Now if you’ll excuse me, yours truly has some mice to catch.. 😉

Till next time!

Signing off,

~ The Resident Muse ~